Seaswept
by jennii.b
Summary: A tale of what might have been in store for Caspian...set just after Lucy, Ed, and their cousin are rescued by the Dawn Treader.


"Caspian," Lucy gasped. "Is that a _girl_?"

Caspian laughed. "It is indeed. Would you like to meet her?"

The younger girl giggled and nodded. "Of course!"

Caspian waved the girl down to meet the newcomers.

"A great dive, my lord," the cross-dressed female bobbed as he approached. "And a fine catch by the looks of things."

"Acurate as always. Domigol, this is Lucy. Lu, Edmond, this is Domigol Raine. Captain's daughter and first mate. She's gone whole years without setting foot on land."

Domigol rolled her eyes and shook her hair. The tail of dark red shimmered as the sun bounced off the curls. "I have not, my lord." Her smile was warm as she met Lucy's eyes and then Edmond's. "Don't let him tease you. He's been most jovial since we crossed the first breakwater and his jokes have not improved any for it."

"Sorry," Ed said shyly. "It's just that in our Narnia-and in England-women are rarely occupied as sailors."

"It's rare here, too. My da's position lent him some leniancy. When my mother passed we both despaired. Our only consolation was being together, so when he returned to the sea I came with him. I assure you that I am qualified for my position. While I cannot claim truth to Caspian's boast, I am quite at home aboard the Dawn Treader. I only wish that we'd been able to come so far as Narnia's golden age in our shipbuilding. I would have liked to have sailed 'round the world in complete comfort and elegance as yourselves must once have done."

"It's a good ship," Edmond assured her. "The lines are unequalled and the sail's shape quite innovative. I shall enjoy investigating all her nooks and crannies."

Caspian laughed and clasped a hand on each shoulder. "Now you unwittingly stroke her ego. It was Domigol herself who designed the ship and had a fair hand in the woodworking, too."

Lucy turned to gape at the other girl who now turned pink.

"A crowning glory to a noble service," Caspian said more softly, his face growning serious. "Although perhaps with home and hearth to care for more of your time can be spent studying the old records and applying your pencil to paper once more. I can only imagine what wonders and adaptations your hand might dream up when once you leave us for the shore."

"Oh," said Lucy, "Are you giving up the sea?"

"I am, little one," she smiled. Her face wore an expression of mixed hope and regret. "I have been offered for and look toward a wedding soon. I want a family and he is a good and steady man who will take care to keep me happy and well. It is a good match."

Edmond couldn'd help but glance toward Caspian and noticed that the other's boy's own expression had changed several times during the girl's speech. His brow had risen, then lowered, and now he seemed resigned. Perhaps even sad.

Later that evening, after the kings had come to a draw in their duel, after the evening meal had been served, after the sun began to settle from the sky, Edmund heard cries and shouts of laughter from the opposite side of the ship. Curiosity led him to where a small crowd gathered to watch as several of the hands frollicked in the surf. A rope ladder had been dropped and even now Caspian followed close behind Domigol. Clearly both had already spent considerable time in the water as both were well and truly soaked. The girl's dark red blouse and trousers clung beautifully to a trim figure just beginning to bud into curves. The king, too, looked bedraggled with his tunic drenched and sticking to his rangy frame. Both had shed their boots and mounted the railing in their bare feet.

"Ready?" Caspian asked, reaching behind him to help the girl to a higher position.

"Far more ready than you, my lord," she scoffed. To prove her boast she leapt, spinning into a tight ball to tumble three times before resuming a rigid stance and marking her entrance into the sea with barely a splash. Caspian laughed, waiting until she'd regained the surface to exactly imitate the feat.

"Domigol," a stern voice cut through. Captain Raine had approached the side from the helm and even now ducked his head toward the ladder. "You bragged and now you've proven our boast. You've the duty this night," he reminded her.

Domigol glanced toward the setting sun and then back up at her father. A curt nod was her aquiesce and she swam with strong strokes toward the side of the boat.

"Have you time for one more?" Caspian asked her.

She shook her head. "Nay, sire. It's time I remember my modesty and decorum and return to my duties. Although I still say that my dive is far cleaner than yours. And now we have an impartial witness to judge."

"Your father?" Caspian laughed as he anchored the ladder for her. Another crewmate took it from him so that he might follow. "Hardly impartial."

"Exactly, my lord. He loves you. For him to admit that I'd bested you must be harsh indeed-for you both!"

"Never did he say that to my ears."

"He did to mine," she challenged as she reclaimed the drying cloth she'd left topside as well as her boots. "Don't let them linger in the water once darkness falls," she said softly. "Creatures will be attracted to the boat because of the lights."

Caspian nodded, understanding that they were playmates no more and that she'd taken up her mantle as advisor. He regretted it but respected it none the less.

Edmund approached to hand Caspian his own drying cloth.

"Did you catch the show?" Caspian asked.

"A fine dive, by both of you. I take it this is a common game?"

"Somewhat," the older grinned. "Her form is better than mine."

"I'll say."

Caspian cut his eyes at the other in mock exasperation. "Her boast is that she can enter the water soundlessly from any height. Adding the tucks and rolls and spins just amps up the competition. It is good for us-and good for the crew-and now I must change my garments again this day for dry ones."

"You'll miss her, won't you?"

Caspian nodded. "The Dawn Treader was a work of heart for me. A goal to meet another goal. Hundreds submitted drawings of their vision. More than one, usually. This was the only design Domigol sent in. So detailed down to how the planks that form the prow should come together before carving the great beast. I recognized her last name as her fathers and we became fast friends while we worked together. They've made me into quite the sailor."

"I always enjoyed sailing-before-in Narnia. There's something peaceful and yet elemental about it. It's nearly a primal pleasure to face wind and sea and sun and remain independant fo them all."

"Precisely. I yearned to undertake this quest since the truth of events surrounding my father's death were revealed. And yet I wanted to set out as a sailor, not a passenger to get in the way. It was important to me to be able to pull my own weight. Captain Raine understood that and fostered my ideologies in chosing the crew. We're a team now. All of us. It will change when we return to Narnia and I must take up other duties. My crew will go on without me. And even some of them will not be here when next I call for the ship."

"Caspian seems to disapprove of the match," Edmund ventured.

"He does. He has his reasons."

"Are they good reasons?"

Domigol shrugged. "He thinks they are. I disagree. I believe the gap to be primarily a cause of perspective. He comes from a world where anything is possible. I come from a more practical place. Even in Narnia, my lord, there are some things that cannot be simply for wishing for them."

"I know that acutely," Ed agreed. "But I know Caspian, too. And I don't think him so out of touch with reality that he would give poor advice to a friend."

"His advise is to postpone marriage."

"Which can be very sensible sometimes. There is no rush, is there?"

Domigol shook her head. A new voice sounded in the dark. "Ask her why, Edmund," Caspian urged as he joined them in the circle of lamplight. He offerred a cup to Domigol from which she drank deeply. "Ask her if she loves him?"

It was obviously an old argument as the girl rolled her eyes before addressing her king. "He is a good man, my lord. He will provide for me very nicely and we can live out our days in harmony."

"He's a pushover, of course he will provide for you as his father will make certain of it, and the living is better in my employ. Plus you don't love him."

Domigol chose not to answer. Instead she turned to rest an arm upon the wheel again.

"Do you?" Caspian urged.

"You know that I don't. But I have grown fond of him and love may come of that before the end. Not all marriages are great romances, my lord. Better that I choose a man that I can bear to live with for the next sixty years than that I be of noble birth and have my life arranged within minutes of the herald's announcement that I'd arrived in this world."

"Not all nobles arrange marriage for their daughters. And not all commoners must marry for money. If you accept this proposal you rob yourself and him a chance at a life of true love and true happiness."

"Nay, my lord. If I turn him down I simply lose the chance to have my own family and my own life. This is my choice."

"There will be other proposals. Other choices."

She shook her head and extended the empty cup to him. "Come down from your palace, my lord. I know not needlework nor handicraft. I've been raised aboard a boat and ship all my days. My face and hair are parched by the sea salt and my hands are rough from the work. My skills are not those that entice a man who has need of wife and mistress of his croft. I cannot cook, tend a garden, or sew beautifully. And yet my lifestyle is not such to attract a man who needs not those things in a wife. A man with money to hire out those tasks will not want a wife whose hands are tough and callused. He wants an ornament to adorn his arm and a conversationalist to enliven his tea time. I am neither of those things, either. I am flattered by the interest and the offer. And I will accept it."

Caspian took both the hands in his and looked into the deep eyes. "I am sorry to hear you speak of yourself thus. I would have you see yourself as I do-full of life and worthy of love. I wish only that you might give yourself the chance to let others see it as well."

"Go below, my lord," she urged. "Morning is soon upon us and with it a new day's toil. Rest easy that no decision is made until we make landfall in Narnia again."


End file.
